Collection of Professor Alexander Mackie Honeyman.

Scope and Content

Collection of Professor Alexander Mackie Honeyman:

a. Arabic manuscript on Islamic Hadith etc., glazed paper, floral lacquered boards, repaired 1986.

b. Yemenite manuscript of hymns, composed by Shalom ben Joseph Ahabbezi and his school, 40 whole hymns and [9] fragments of hymns which form a collection of parts of three different mss, most likely copied during the 18th century in the Yemen. Most poems in Hebrew-transliterated Arabic with some Hebrew, some Aramaic.

c. Majmu'ah min qasa'id shu'ara' Himyar wa-Saba' wa-Ma'in, fi 'l-qarb al-'ishrin, (Collection of odes of the poets of Humyarm Saba' and Ma'in, in the 20th century). Collection of verses and tales in colloquial arabic by Lisan al-sahra' wa-sawt al-Rub' al Khali ('The tongue of the desert and voice of the Empty Quarter'), al-Sharif 'Awad ibn Ahmad al-Habili. With note by RB Serjeant, 22 December 1985.

d. Envelope of papers (10) relating to CG Campbell, with biographical notes, correspondence with Professor Dawkins, Exeter College, Oxford, 1950, 1953, 'A Tale from the Arab Tribes', translated by Campbell and printed in Qatar Club Magazine, 9, September 1950.

Administrative / Biographical History

Alexander Mackie Honeyman (1907-1988), was professor of Hebrew and Oriental Languages at St Mary's College, St Andrews from 1936-1967.

Sharif 'Awad ibn Ahmad al-Habili (c), was brother of celebrated Sharif Husayn of Bayhan who played a notable part in South Arabian politics between 1945 and 1967.

Charles G Campbell (1912-1953) (d) was a major in the Indian Army, serving on the North-West Frontier until 1940 when he was posted to the Middle East. He travelled widely throughout the area and began to collect folk stories; in 1947 he left the army to devote more time to collecting, taking a post with the Iraq Petroleum Company. He published a number of stories in From Town and Tribe and Told in the Market Place.

Access Information

By appointment with the Keeper of Manuscripts. Access to records containing confidential information may be restricted.

Acquisition Information

(d) bought by Prof Honeyman from J Burke, Antiquarian and Foreign Booksellers, London.

Other Finding Aids

Individual Manuscripts and Small Collections database available as part of Manuscripts Database.

Physical Characteristics and/or Technical Requirements

Various

Archivist's Note

Description compiled by Maia Sheridan, Archives Hub project archivist, based on material from the Manuscripts Database.

Conditions Governing Use

Applications for permission to quote should be sent to the Keeper of Manuscripts. Reproduction subject to usual conditions: educational use and condition of documents.

Accruals

None